The official souvenir of the city of Zurich is a water bottle with the name Z H2O. The city wants to use the accessory to promote the high-quality drinking water that flows from the taps and 1,200 fountains in the city. As reported by SDA, city councillor Andres Türler promoted the drinking quality of "Züriwasser" at a media conference on Tuesday, claiming that it is at least as good as most mineral waters from a hygiene point of view. Only the mineral content of the water is lower. The four-decilitre stainless steel bottle from developer Andreas Batliner, which costs 25 francs, is intended to link the name of the city of Zurich directly with the city's water and to carry it out into the world. The souvenir was the result of a competition organized by Zürich Tourism. For every drinking water bottle sold, one franc goes to a water aid project in Tanzania.

For the first time, the Berner Zeitung appeared on Tuesday without the traditional division into sections. The Berner Zeitung reports "on the world outside the Espace Mittelland" in the newspaper's mantle and now features articles from the previous Switzerland, Foreign Affairs, Business, Culture and Miscellaneous sections under the title "Heute". Similar to the NZZ, the first section will now be rounded off with an overview page called "15 Minuten" covering all federal topics. The second bundle opens with sport, followed by letters to the editor, the stock market section and the TV program. The third section is devoted entirely to regional news, with all reports from the region across all departments. As the Berner Zeitung writes, the inside section of this bundle will contain the local pages of the respective core area and a refined range of material from neighboring regions. The fourth section will continue to be reserved for special pages on society and consumption "People" and an expanded "Ausserhaus" section. The new editor-in-chief Michael Hug told SDA that the Berner Zeitung wants to move away from the role of daily chronicler by abolishing the sections. The plan is to focus more selectively on specific topics and present a more "magazine-like" appearance. This is not least to counter the competition from the Internet and electronic media.
The individual editorial departments will be abolished within the editorial team. The new "Heute" department will be headed by Bernhard Giger, the former head of the city department and member of the editorial board. The changeover is intended to lay the foundation for increased cooperation with the other media of the Espace Media Groupe, and the efficiency gains are to be invested in improving quality.

The Zurich-based communications agency Hesskiss is now working with the oldest wine auction house Steinfels Weinauktionen. The first step will be to refresh the auction catalog. The next wine auction will take place on Saturday, April 29.

The NZZ am Sonntag wants to take advantage of its readers' football mood and is launching offers for football fever over the next few weeks under the motto "So that they are not offside". First up is an exclusive and limited edition of DVDs on the history, culture and idols of football. Only subscribers can purchase the box with the 10 DVDs at a price of 99 francs. Non-subscribers must order at least one trial subscription to benefit from the offer. The NZZ am Sonntag wants to strengthen reader loyalty and attract new subscribers, the publisher announced in a communiqué on Monday.

More than half of leading PR professionals expect communication budgets to increase by up to 10 percent in the current year. The industry survey conducted by the Professional Register of the Swiss PR Association SPRG shows that the PR industry is more optimistic about the future than it has been for a long time. A total of 68 registered members took part in the survey (previous year: 77). Of these, 49 are contractors and 19 are clients. 52 percent of BR members expect budgets to increase in 2006. In the previous year, this figure was only 36 percent. Four out of five expect budgets to increase by up to 10 percent. 43 percent expect expenditure on PR services to remain at least the same. The contractors are somewhat more optimistic about the development than the clients.
Annual salaries for PR specialists, PR managers and department and division heads have risen significantly in some cases. This first increase across the board reflects the increasing recovery in the industry. Here, clients generally expect higher salaries than contractors. In the assistant/secretary category, which was surveyed for the first time, gross annual salaries are between CHF 55,000 and CHF 80,000. The appropriate monthly salary for secretarial and assistant staff with two years of professional experience is currently CHF 5,000. For PR specialists with a federal certificate and 4 years of professional experience, the salary scale shows a wide spread. Almost half of the respondents consider annual salaries of between CHF 70,000 and CHF 85,000 to be appropriate. However, more than a third expect salaries of over 85,000 francs. Almost one in six consider a figure of over 95,000 francs to be appropriate. The average is CHF 80,000, which represents an increase of 17.5 percent over the last six years.
PR project managers with 5 years of professional experience are well above the previous year's average of CHF 97,500. A good third of respondents currently expect appropriate salaries in the region of CHF 100,000. For around two thirds of PR consultants with a diploma and 5 years of professional experience, the appropriate annual salary is between CHF 100,000 and CHF 130,000. The average gross annual salary remains unchanged at CHF 120,000, with clients again slightly above and contractors slightly below the average this year. The average gross salary of PR department heads with more than 5 years of professional experience has risen quite significantly to 150,000 francs. However, one in four already expects salaries of over 165,000 francs. In the case of management positions, there is also the clearest difference between contractors and clients: for the former, the average is CHF 140,000, for the latter CHF 160,000.
Hourly rates in the PR industry today range between 110 francs (secretarial, assistance) and 280 francs. Two answers are over 400 francs. These figures were surveyed for the first time. In contrast to wages, clients tend to assume lower rates than contractors.
Costs for PR services virtually unchangedPrices for PR services have remained largely unchanged compared to the previous year. For a local media conference, prices range between CHF 3,000 and CHF 25,000, for a national media conference between CHF 10,000 and over CHF 25,000. Around two thirds of respondents expect to spend between CHF 1,500 and CHF 3,000 on writing a specialist article. For the conceptual design of a 24-page company portrait, 85 percent of respondents put the appropriate price at between CHF 10,000 and CHF 25,000. The editing of a regular 4-page newsletter costs between CHF 4,000 and CHF 10,000. The prices for the development of an annual PR concept are also virtually unchanged. 80 percent consider a price range of CHF 15,000 to CHF 25,000 to be appropriate. The price range for designing a website has shifted slightly downwards. Around 40 percent expect a cost of less than CHF 10,000. However, a good half still expect a price range of CHF 10,000 to CHF 20,000.

The 10th Media Awards ceremony took place in New York on Thursday evening. T-Online, InteractiveMedia and Horizont magazine honored the most successful online advertising campaigns in six different categories. Coca Cola won twice: In the "Crossmedia" category, the award went to the MediaCom agency, and in the "Special Efficiency Award" category to the Argonauten360° agency. This award honors the campaign that is demonstrably effective and profitable. With an advertisement for Mini/BMW, the winner in the "Permission" category was the agency Plan.net, which also won in the "Young Creation" category. The online award went to OgilvyInteractive Worldwide for their Axe/Unilever campaign. Andreas Gahlert, founder and CEO of the Neue Digital agency, was named Web Personality of the Year in the "People" category.

Junior media planner and TV specialist Andreas Leuzinger joined the team at Zurich media agency ZipMedia on April 3. He most recently worked as a TV planner/buyer at Mediaedge:cia and previously worked at Belcom and Tamedia. Since last fall, Jacqueline Marti has also been supporting the media specialists in the areas of planning, processing and control. 

Franziska Egli took up the position of new editorial director at the Berner Kulturagenda on Monday. A graduate of the School of Applied Linguistics SAL in Zurich, she has worked as an editor at the Berner Zeitung newspaper and as a freelance journalist for the past seven years. Silvia Süess is also new to the editorial team. She takes over from the previous music and cinema editor Markus Züger. Kulturagenda is planning additional editorial sections, such as food and film reviews.

The Zurich-based advertising agency Giger & Partner has announced three new additions to its team: graphic designers Kathrin Krell and John Duc. Krell is a graduate of the Lucerne School of Art and Design and most recently worked at Unit Design in Frankfurt. Duc studied at the School of Applied Arts in Geneva. Giger & Partner's clients will now be advised by Corinne Knecht. The graduate planner in marketing communication previously worked at the advertising agency Erat, Thoma & Herzog in Rorschach.

The Thalwil-based IT trade journal Infoweek has a new editorial director in Urs Bertschy. Bertschy replaces Daniel Meierhans, who is leaving the publishing house after three years as editor-in-chief. Bertschy has been active as a consultant in the field of intranet protocols and information management and as a publicist for several years and was already editor-in-chief of Infoweek's predecessor PC Guide.

The watch brand IWC Schaffhausen is presenting the short film "Pilot" on April 4. The film, in which none other than Hollywood actor John Malkovich plays the leading role, launches the newly launched "Spitfire" watch collection. The film was produced by Condor Films and directed by young Swiss director Thomas Gerber.

The Bern-based information agency Pepper has announced a number of new clients. The Swiss Economic Forum has entrusted Pepper, or rather its managing director Reto Wüthrich, with responsibility for media relations. SBB commissioned Pepper to produce brochures and direct mailings for the "School Info" business areas and with texts for the Internet for the "Group Travel" area. The Bern agency Maxomedia coordinated the SBB orders. Pepper produced texts for a new brochure for Aggregat, a construction company from Uri involved in the NRLA.